IT Georgie with Spider Arch
Halloween Display
IT by Stephen King is one of those modern classics! Whether you have read the book, seen the original, or reboots, you probably know the elements of the story. Clowns, in general, seem to terrify people. Adding to the fear, a clown that hunts and feeds on children is enough nightmare fuel for most.
Pennywise, the clown, usually marks his presence with red balloons. Meanwhile, little Georgie is best known for his yellow rain jacket and it’s iconic in the horror realm. When I saw this fun take on an IT-inspired yard decor, I was super excited! So, check out how I made this IT Georgie with Spider Arch Halloween Yard Decor!
Making the IT-inspired Halloween
Yard Decoration
If making a child-size Georgie is either too much work or just a little too terrifying, you can still get an eerie effect just with red balloons! I saw this done in a stage production of IT out here in LA. When the audience first walked in, sitting center stage was a single low levitating red balloon. The creep factor came from the fact that the white string wasn’t holding it down to the ground. It seems to hoover there on its own!
The secret, fishing wire. By attaching one end of the fishing wire to the balloon and the other end to the ground, you can then cut the white string shorter to give it that hovering effect. I will say this does work better indoors or in a less windy area. You can get red balloons from a dollar store, and I was able to get a helium tank from Target.
Creating Georgie Step-by-Step
For this DIY Halloween crafting project, making Georgie was a little more complicated. The directions in the inspiration said that they created this look with just old kids’ clothes, pool noodles, and hand weights in the boots. The area I’m in gets a tad windy around this time of year. So, I wanted this project to be a bit more durable. I also don’t have kids. So I didn’t have any kids’ clothes just lying around.
- The frame: Hitting the local thrift stores, I was able to find small rain boots, kids’ jeans, and a youth rain jacket. All for under $15! I also have a crazy creative fiancĂ© who enjoys building things. So instead of using pool noodles for Georgie’s body, we made a frame for him out of PVC pipes.
- The body: We don’t plan on reusing these boots. So, we filled them with cement and secured the leg pipes in the boots. If you have extra pool noodles laying around, great! I didn’t, and trying to find pool noodles in October (even in Los Angeles) seemed to be a challenge. I did find pipe insulation from the hardware store that worked just as well and was even cheaper than the pool noodles. The pipe insulation plumps out the legs and the body and gives the arms a little bounce.
- The head: I wanted the head to look a little more rounded. So, I drilled a hole in the base of a dollar store skull. It will also freak out anyone who sees it and isn’t expecting a face! I also didn’t love the fact that the balloon was coming out of the head in the inspiration photo. Using a garden post, (under a dollar at the hardware store) I covered it in white electrical tape. This simplified attaching to the end of an arm to make it seem like Georgie is holding the balloon.
- The Display: The original post also made it seem that Georgie would stand on his own. I found him a tad shaky and I planned to display him in a slightly uneven area. So we built ours with a balance poll coming from his chest to the ground. It is noticeable from the sides, but it’s pretty well hidden at night and from the front. We also used gardening wire to wrap from the tree to his neck to help hold him in place. Once his hood is up, you can’t even see the wire!
Creating the Spider Arch Step-by-Step
I’m super extra. So, I decided to add an additional IT lair for Georgie’s environment. Pennywise takes on his true form of a giant spider at the end of the film. So, I decided to have Georgie in front of a colossal spider arch. I also wanted to include the infamous “You’ll Float Too” quote. I’ve attempted an arch in past years, and again, living in a windy area, my arches never last very long.
- Using chicken wire, we attached this to the back part of our tree and folded the wire in half. The chicken wire helped create some fullness to the arch and gave me a canvas for writing out the message.
- I attached the wire to the ground using spare tent hooks (8-10 in total). You’ll need about six bags of webbing from the dollar store and one pack of black webbing for the message. Using wire cutters to create areas to hook the webbing on every few inches will help the webbing to stick properly to the wire. I did the same with the written message area. Taking this effort will take a little more time but will help the design.
- Layout designs and spacing to hook the black webbing in tightly. Using the white webbing, wrap the wire, layer it, and spread the webbing out until all the wires are entirely covered.
- To finalize the look, I attached some giant spiders I have with wire legs. That way, it is easy to attach and secure them to the chicken wire.
This whole display took about weekends to finish. The first weekend measured Georgie’s body, cut pipes, and cemented the legs into the shoes. I also attached the chicken wire and shaped the arch, adding the white webbing. The following weekend was constructing Georgie, filling in gaps in the white webbing and spelling out the message.
It was a bit more time-consuming, but I think it was worth the effort. Happy Halloween!
More from Married to Horror!
Take a look at our Halloween content in the Seasonal section! You can also find more general Married to Horror selections in our recommendations and List Section! Also, take a peek at our Master Watch List where you can find an array of horror films sorted by title, platform, rating, and more!
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